Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which launched its “Domestic Sanitary and Special Care Waste Collection” drive on April 22, has faced sluggish implementation in several wards despite healthy registrations. Over 1,919 establishments—including 1,140 housing societies, beauty parlours, hostels, and schools—have signed up across the city by July 1. However, more than four wards, like M‑East (Govandi), have still not commenced proper collection due to vehicle shortages and logistical hurdles at the local level.

Residents in M‑East report that multiple inquiries to ward offices have yielded little information, with officials stating the service is “yet to start” and promising updates “soon” . Meanwhile, civic authorities maintain that the challenges are temporary: additional vehicles and refined logistics are in the pipeline to ensure timely rollout .
Advocacy groups are urging the BMC to improve education and transparency. Rajkumar Sharma of Chembur’s ALMANAC stressed the need for a wide-reaching circular to inform societies about the initiative and clarify what qualifies as special-care waste . Similarly, Dhaval Shah, director at Andheri’s Lokhandwala–Oshiwara Citizens’ Association, recommended co‑ordinated meetings with residents’ groups to increase awareness—many remain unaware beyond what they read in newspapers.

Despite these delays, the BMC reports that as of June 30, 61.5 tonnes of such waste have been collected since the scheme began, averaging 1.7 tonnes daily, with processing handled by six plasma incineration facilities . The civic body continues to work on resolving the bottlenecks to ensure full citywide coverage soon.

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